


A Little More Red than Purple

by ImogenPortchester



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Kinsey Scale, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Purple-red scale, Questioning Dean, Sexuality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 16:37:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11017311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImogenPortchester/pseuds/ImogenPortchester
Summary: Dean has never really thought of himself as a gay guy. Mostly it’s women who catch his fancy. In his 38 years so far, there have only been a few men who drew his attention enough to make him wonder.Or, Dean struggles to define his sexuality and Sam helps him out.





	A Little More Red than Purple

Dean has never really thought of himself as a gay guy. Mostly it’s women who catch his fancy. In his 38 years so far, there have only been a few men who drew his attention enough to make him wonder.

First there was his tenth grade art teacher in Pensacola, who wore v-neck t-shirts every day to beat the heat. He was just toned enough to make them look good on a man in his early forties. He was the first man that Dean ever jerked off to the image of. Even now, just picturing that chest can get him hard if he’s in the right mood. 

Second was Bar Guy, as Dean has taken to calling him over the years. At twenty-one he thought he was definitely straight—screw whatever Questioning Dean had thought at fifteen. But then Bar Guy sat down at the stool next to Dean and that familiar rush of attraction was back—in his stomach and his loins. It was a combination of a few things that did it for him: jean jacket with the collared shirt, cologne that smelled like cedar, messy, curly brown hair that he tucked behind his ear as he ordered a whiskey neat. 

Dean mouthed the rim of his bottle for a moment before tipping it back and finishing the remaining sudsy contents. His neighbor glanced over at him and the corner of his mouth lifted at the sight of Dean’s bared neck. Just as Dean made to order another bottle, a tan goddess sat herself down next to Bar Guy.

“Hey babe.” She pecked him on the lips as she slipped out of her jacket. “You weren’t waiting long, were you?”

Dean plopped a few bills on the bar then left, eyes on the floor. 

Third was Sam. Call him blind, call him foolish (call him a downright pervert) but Dean had never been attracted to his little brother until Jess died. And no, it wasn’t because he was damaged—damaged never did it for Dean, it was actually more of a turn-off. It was because that was the first time he had ever seen adult Sam as an emotionally vulnerable creature, someone so broken because he had loved so greatly. And that first day after she passed and Dean held Sam while he cried, Dean knew that he wanted to be the next and last person that Sam ever loved that much. 

Thinking back on the three men that have caused him to question his sexuality makes him wonder if there have been other times that a man has caught his attention. Has he ever checked out the waiter’s ass and not even noticed what he’s doing? Has he ever ogled an underwear model for more than just his Calvin Kleins?

He heard about the Kinsey test years ago and had thought that yeah, that makes sense. Sexuality is a scale, not strict boxes that everyone must fall into. 

So a few weeks ago he opened up his laptop and found a Kinsey test online. There were only a handful of questions and they were all simple enough to answer. His result was “Predominately heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual.” He nodded, closed the browser, set the laptop aside, and then proceeded to think about it nonstop for the next week and a half. 

He makes breakfast for Sam and himself and while waiting to flip the pancakes he ponders. He had definitely thought that he should’ve fallen into the “incidentally homosexual” option, right? Only three men could he think of! He couldn’t even begin to count the number of women who had reduced his thoughts to only those coming from his downstairs brain. 

So for the next few days he tries to check out men. At diners, at rest stops, in gas stations, on TV, in magazines, and everywhere else. Not a single one does it for him. But then his eyes drift to Sam in the passenger’s seat and he instantly thinks of how he wants to pull that long hair, bringing Sam’s face down for a kiss while Sam fucks him into tomorrow. Certainly that must be incidental, feelings that only exist for Sam, Bar Guy, and Mr. Richards. 

It bothers him so much that he actually, finally brings it up to Sam.

Only after Sam has wiped his cum off of Dean’s stomach, having replaced the damp rag in the sink and climbed back into bed, does Dean clear his throat and ask in a hushed tone, “Are you gay?”

Sam looks at him in the dim glow cast by the hallway light outside the half-open bedroom door, his expression questioning but not weary.

“No. I’m bi.”

“Huh.”

Sam waits, then asks, “Are you?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“…Am I bi?”

Sam grins awkwardly. “I don’t know. Do you think you are?”

“Well… I took this test online. Kinsey test. And it said that I’m ‘Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual.’ What the hell does that mean?”

Sam reaches to his right and flicks on the table lamp.

“Dean, I hate to break it to you, but you know that test is bullshit, right?”

Dean’s brow creases. “But the Kinsey scale, that’s a real thing, yeah?”

Sam nods. “It’s real, but it’s old, from the ‘40s. Like way outdated. And the research that it was based on was flawed to begin with.”

Dean just stares at him.

“Just hold on a sec.” Sam unplugs his pone and taps away on it. He finally hands it to Dean who looks at the picture on the screen and the key beneath it. The grid is full of colorful squares, each with a corresponding alpha-numeric code.

“It’s called the [Purple-Red Scale](https://mic.com/articles/126346/what-s-your-true-sexual-orientation-the-purple-red-scale-is-here-to-help-you-find-out#.UFUynnW9n). It’s a much more accurate gauge of sexuality than the Kinsey scale. The important thing is that there are no questions made up by researchers. Everyone’s idea of their sexuality is different, so what one researcher thinks of as gay or bi or straight might be different than what you would actually consider yourself to be. This chart takes it a step further because it includes your level of sexual attraction. Not everyone wants to get laid in the first place. Kinsey didn’t even think about that.”

“I didn’t know there were different types of attraction…”

“Yeah. Not everybody considers sex to be the most important part of a relationship. Some do, some don’t want it at all.”

Dean looks at the screen for a little while longer then says, confidently, “E2.”

Sam takes the phone and scans the key. “’Primary sexuality’ and ‘Prefers the opposite sex, but is also attracted to the same sex’. That sounds right.”

“What are you?”

“D4,” he declares then recites, “’Secondary sexuality: may develop lustful feelings over the course of a relationship, but not at first’ and ‘Prefers the same sex, but is also attracted to the opposite sex.’”

“Huh,” Dean utters for the second time that night as Sam plugs his phone back in.

They fall back into comfortable silence with the light turned out again. Sam snuggles into Dean’s side and Dean places a hand on his back, spreading his fingers wide over Sam’s warm skin.

“So at what point in our relationship did you develop lustful feelings for me?”

“Would you just go to sleep?” Sam mumbles into his neck.

Dean chuckles in the dark and the can practically hear Sam’s eye roll.

**Author's Note:**

> The Purple-Red Scale is really cool! If you've never heard of it you should definitely check it out. You might even be surprised by your results. 
> 
> Find it here: [Purple-Red Scale](https://mic.com/articles/126346/what-s-your-true-sexual-orientation-the-purple-red-scale-is-here-to-help-you-find-out#.UFUynnW9n)


End file.
